Cousins Jardine and Waiters lead Syracuse over reeling UConn

By The Sports Xchange

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- This time, Syracuse senior forward Kris Joseph had some help ??? a lot of it.

Senior point guard Scoop Jardine???s back-to-back 3-pointers ignited a 22-6 run to end the game as the No. 2-ranked Orange coasted to an 85-67 Big East Conference victory over the Connecticut Huskies on Saturday afternoon before 33,430 fans at the Carrier Dome, the largest college basketball crowd of the season and the fourth-largest crowd in the Dome???s 32-year history.

Syracuse has hosted the top seven college basketball crowds of the season at the Dome.

Jardine and his second cousin, backup guard Dion Waiters, combined for 20 of Syracuse???s final 22 points, including 18 consecutive points that turned a precarious 63-61 lead into an 81-64 cushion.

???I???m always in attack mode throughout the game,?????? Jardine said. ???Sometimes, my defender goes to sleep because I???m running the offense. I caught him out there twice and I hadn???t shot two (3-pointers) like that the whole game.??????

In Syracuse???s previous game, a 64-61 overtime win over Georgetown, Joseph scored a career-high 29 points on 9-for-20 shooting, including 6-for-11 from 3-point range. The rest of the Orange made just 13 of 43 shots.

But against UConn, Jardine led a balanced attack with 21 points on 8-for-9 shooting (4-for-4 from 3-point range) as the Orange shot 59.3 percent from the field (32-for-54, including 10-for-16 from beyond the arc). Waiters (18 points on 7-for-10 shooting), Joseph (15 points) and C.J. Fair (14 points on 6-for-8 shooting) also scored in double figures for Syracuse.

???I just think we got shots we???ve been getting, we just haven???t been making them,?????? Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said.

???When they get in trouble, they can isolate so many different people who can beat you,??? UConn associate head coach George Blaney said. ???And Waiters and Jardine just had phenomenal games, and we had a really hard time guarding Fair. He???s a bad matchup for a lot of teams, including us. We had three different people playing him and none of them did much on him.??????

Syracuse has won 20 consecutive games at the Carrier Dome, including 17 this season. At 25-1 overall (and 12-1 in the Big East), the Orange has compiled the best start in school history.

???It???s as good a team I???ve seen Jimmy have,??? said Blaney, a longtime Big East coach. ???It???s certainly his deepest team, whether it proves to be his best team, the rest of the season will tell you that.??????

The defending national champion Huskies, who have lost six of their last seven games, fell to 15-9, 5-7.

The Huskies played their third consecutive game without coach Jim Calhoun, who is out indefinitely because of a painful lower back condition called spinal stenosis. UConn is 1-2 with Blaney leading the team.

???He???s one of the greatest coaches of all time,?????? Boeheim said of Calhoun. ???When he???s not there it makes a difference.??????

It was also the Huskies??? first game since learning that the NCAA had denied UConn???s request for a waiver that would allow the team to play in the 2013 NCAA Tournament. UConn, which is banned from the tournament because of below-standard academic results, requested a waiver last month and will appeal the NCAA???s decision.

The Huskies trailed by 11, 46-35, early in the second half. But they started to get the ball inside to 6-foot-10 freshman center Andre Drummond, who scored seven consecutive points as UConn pulled within five, 49-44.

But Drummond had to exit with 14:19 remaining because an injury to his right ankle. Drummond was helped to the locker room shortly after he left the game but returned to the floor with 9:30 left.

Trailing by five, 10-5, the Orange went on a 20-5 run that ended with 3-pointers by Jardine and James Southerland, and Fair???s dunk on an alley-oop pass from Jardine.

Three times the Huskies cut Syracuse???s lead to three, but the Orange finished the first half with a 6-0 spurt to take a 43-34 lead at the break.

Joseph scored 11 first-half points on 3-for-5 shooting, including 2-for-2 from 3-point range. The Orange shot 65 percent in the first half (17-for-26).

SU had been outrebounded by a combined 93-55 in its previous two home games against West Virginia and Georgetown. But the Orange outrebounded the Huskies 31-29 Saturday as the 6-8 Fair led both teams with 12 boards.

???Today we had to rebound,?????? Fair said. ???They???re a big, strong team, but we got some of their big guys (6-9 forward Alex Oriakhi and Drummond) in foul trouble, so it was a little easier.??????

The game was televised nationally by CBS, which is usually good news for the Huskies. UConn is now 86-44 on CBS since 1989-90 (a .667 winning percentage), including 5-0 last season.

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